Monday, September 17, 2012

The Sega Genesis competed head-to-head with the Super Nintendo in the 1990's and during this time hundreds of great games were released. A few of these games have become rare collectibles and very expensive in some cases. Below is a list of the rarest and most expensive Sega Genesis games.

Rare & Expensive Sega Genesis Games

Blockbuster Video held a national video game competition at their stores in 1994. Players could compete on Donkey Kong Country Competition (see rare SNES list) or a Genesis game called Blockbuster World Championships II. The cartridge contained NBA Jam and Judge Dredd and gave a combined high score for your performance in both games.

The cartridge was never sold or given away. All Blockbuster stores were supposed to return them after the competition. A few found there way into collector's hands and are now very expensive.

Beggar Prince is a role playing game that was originally released in 1996, but never in USA. In 2006, a company named Super Fighter Team translated the game and commercially released it in the USA. This is the first Sega Genesis game commercially released since 1998.

The developer sold 1,500 copies by the end of 2007. More copies have yet to be released, but if strong demand keeps up there is a good chance it will be re-released again.

The Blockbuster Game Factory is an attempt at downloadable gaming before it was available on all modern consoles. The cartridge contained flash memory chips which could be reprogrammed. Blockbuster stores would download games using dial-up modems and load them onto the cartridge and rent them out. In theory, Blockbuster could have any game at any time.

Customers didn't like waiting a few minutes for their games to be ready to rent and Blockbuster phased out the concept. The remaining cartridges are collectors items.

Bible Adventures is a Christian video game from Wisdom Tree. You play through levels roughly mimicing the stories of Noah's ark, baby Moses, and David and Goliath. The game was originally released on the Nintendo NES and ported to the Genesis four years later.

Bible Adventures was not sold in video game stores, but could only be found at Christian bookstores. Many gamers never knew this game existed when it was originally released. This rarity adds to the demand for the game amoung collectors.

Action 52 is an unlicensed, multiple games on one cartridge game. The cartridge contains 52 games, but all of them are renowned for their low quality and numerous bugs and even fatal crashes. The publisher advertised a prize for a random person who beat level 5 of Ooze. Unfortunately the game crashes at level 2.

Action 52 was released for the NES two years before the Genesis version came out in 1993 at a retail price of $199.

Spiritual Warfare is another Christian video game released by Wisdom Tree. The game is similar to Legend of Zelda in gameplay but you are in the Lord's army and must save heathens using fruits of the spirit.

Like BIble Adventure, Spirtual Warfare was not sold in traditional retail stores but only through Christian bookstores.

Aerobiz Supersonic is a sequel to the original airline business simulator. You start an international airline and compete on different routes to complete an objective depending on the scenario. The game has real world historical events like the fall of Soviet Union and 70's oil crisis.

Business simulations are a niche market so Aerobiz Supersonic didn't sell many copies. The game is fairly deep business simulation and still popular today.

The 1993 version of John Madden Football was simply an update of the '92 version with a few minor updates like more teams, coin tosses, and no-huddle offense. The Championship Edition was released after the standard 93 version with teams from 1966 to 1991, instead of using all 1992 teams.

The Championship Edition was also a rental exclusive. Because it was only sold at rental stores after it was rented, the box and instructions are very hard to find and sell for a big premium.

Master of Monsters is a turn-based strategy game. You move monsters around a board made of hexagonal tiles and try to defeat the opposing player. The game has some RPG elements too like upgrading units and magic.

Master of Monster for Genesis sold well enough to warrant a sequel on the Sega Saturn, but is still relatively hard to find.

Splatterhouse is one of the first games in the horror genre of video games. The game is a side scrolling beat-em up but features more gore and violence than typical games. Each level ends with a battle with a grotesque boss battle.

In the 90's when the Splatterhouse series was released, the images and violence in the game were considered shocking. The game is considered fairly tame by today's standards.

Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is an action game featuring Michael Jackson. You defeat enemies with dance moves. The game was a Sega home console exclusive but was released in arcades as well.

Moonwalker prices shot up to as high as $130 for a few days after Michael Jackson's death in 2009. Prices quickly came back down to the $30-40 range but are still higher than they were prior to Jackson's death.

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If Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is listed as the most popular Genesis game at $43, why isn't it listed in the most expensive games? There are six other games on that list that cost less than Moonwalker.

@darkstone - We probably can't say definitively what would happen to the price if a really rare game were on the Game Factory carts. I've never heard of another game on this list being on one of the Game Factory cartridges, but I guess that would be like a 2-in-1 rare game. It might increase the value, but I have never seen it.

The reason why Punisher is worth so much is the tattoo that was packing in.

Basically what happened is, many years ago, bidding wars would erupt over people fighting over a copy with the tattoo. Due to ignorance, people assumed the game itself was hard to find and therefore expensive. It steamrolled from there.

It has nothing to do with the game 'selling poorly' as that's just hearsay that explains something that you couldn't explain otherwise. :P

@Port - Thanks for your comment. The tattoo pack-in is interesting to know about. I hadn't heard that before.

I've been selling Sega Genesis games for 13 years and I have only sold 15 "The Punisher" games during that entire time. (I've sold 590 Sonic 2's during this same time period as a comparison). It might not be as rare as other titles but it is far from common.

The John Madden Championship must not be too rare in and of itself, I am assuming the complete box is why it makes it rare. I say this because I just found two copies at an old music store without the box for a dollar each. Maybe I'll just sit on them a while

I just picked up a copy of madden 93 sealed inbox limited edition first release long box...i was wondering is this rarer because this is the first plastic boxes used by ea sports. the same version is released in cardboard but is not a first release. anyone have any ideas?

I have an action 52 game and I would love to sell it in used condition but I refuse to sell on eBay and those kinds of sites. And I live in wy are there any places around or close to wy that would buy my used games and system everything still works. I also am the only owner if that helps.

Ranger-X was a unique Sega Genesis title as you were a robot and had a motorcycle like vehicle that was with you at all times. You'd use different weapons you'd get and the levels become more challenging as the game went on. I used to own this title, and now it's becoming a rarity.